Reshma Qureshi makes a powerful case for ending sale of acid

The acid attack survivor features in a campaign by Ogilvy Mumbai and Make Love Not Scars, where she shares beauty tips

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 16, 2015

Click on the image to watch the Video.

The Supreme Court of India has banned over-the-counter sale of acid since 2013. Yet acid continues to be easily available and the number of acid attacks is on the rise.

Acid attack survivors are left with horrific scars and sometimes lose their eyesight. So, when acid attack survivor Reshma Qureshi shared beauty tips through a series of three videos, it instantly caught everyoneâs eyes.

The videos were part of a campaign, âBeauty Tips with Reshmaâ, launched by Ogilvy Mumbai, along with the NGO Make Love Not Scars. The campaign was launched on The Logical Indian on August 30, 2015.Â Each vlog ended with a pleaÂ to crowd source signatures on a petition addressed to the Prime Minister for enforcing the ban on open sale of acid.

The messages went viral in a big way, not just in India but across the world.

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC World, Mail Online, ABC News, Time, Mashable, Mirror, People, The Independent, The Huffington Post and personalities like Amitabh Bachchan and Ashton Kutcher have already joined the conversation for #EndAcidSale.

Piyush Pandey

Piyush Pandey,Â Executive Chairman & Creative Director,Â Ogilvy South Asia, commented, âAn acid attack is a heinous crime and every attempt should be made to prevent such attacks. Make Love Not Scars is an organisation committed to persuading the government to pass legislation which prevents open sale of acids. Ogilvy is proud to participate in this cause and has created this commercial with a victim who agreed to participate in generating awareness and support. Ogilvy will continue to contribute to this cause to impact results that lead to safety of people and women in particular.â

Rajiv Rao

Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director, Ogilvy India, added here, âItâs a shame that even after a ban on the sale of acid, it seems to be selling openly and easily and helping the mindless young men of India to destroyÂ a girlâs life forever. We wanted to create an awareness campaign in aÂ powerful way to put an end to this ridiculous behaviour once and for all.â

Two weeks later, over 200,000 petitions addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been signed.